


Daddy Branch

by Windschwinge



Category: Naruto, Trolls (2016)
Genre: Branch taking care of Naruto, Daddy Branch, Suddenly father
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2018-12-13 12:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11759601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windschwinge/pseuds/Windschwinge
Summary: In his grey days Branch had planned and prepared for a lot of different scenarios that could go wrong, as precaution you must understand.What he had not been prepared for was falling through a portal and landing in a whole different world.Or finding a small neglected baby in need. That he would adopt said baby was also not planned, just so you know.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Branch is thinking too much  
> Naruto gets a new name and maybe even a father

Chapter 1: Suddenly a father??!

What had he been thinking? Him, taking care of a baby? No, no not just any baby, a giant baby? No, forget that, he hadn’t been thinking at all! Stupid emotion, stupid instincts and stupid emotional and non-logical reaction. Everything had been easier when he had been grey! At least then he would have been able to judge this whole stupid situation without reacting all emotional and only creating more trouble for himself. 

Nooooo, he needed to stop doing that, thinking it would be better to be grey. When he had been grey he had been totally unhappy, sad and lonely. Hiding behind his doors with his own misery as only comany. Being colourful was good, being colourful meant happiness. Come one, stupid Branch, smile, be happy, at least for the huge, pink and ugly baby that was staring at him as if it didn’t know if it should grab him and squeeze him to death or just put him into its mouth and be done with it. Yes, smile for dangerous and probably life endangering baby. He was so finished. Where was Poppy when you needed her cheerful and hyper self. 

Oh, how could he forget, she was back home (hopefully) in the troll-tree, with everytroll there (expect obviously him) because a blue and spinning portal decided to suddenly just pop up right under him and hurl him to who knows where…with giants. Giant pink skinned things, bigger and just as ugly as the bergens, giant unknown animals, that could eat him in one bite and had tried to do so at least once already and, how could he forget, giant pink babies as well. Or at least one giant pink baby. 

Alright, let’s try to analyse the situation logically. Maybe he had run into one of those flowers that caused hallucinating and was now only thinking all of this was real! ...Couldn’t be, even if he was hallucinating, his fantasy still wasn’t that good (or bad) that his imagination would be able to create all of this. 

Well, maybe Poppy was playing a prank on him. No, even if all the trolls were to be working together, they wouldn’t be able to create an illusion on such a scale. 

Or, or maybe…well that was it. He didn’t have any more ideas. 

So, a portal. Okay he could work with a portal. A doorway between a point a and a point b. Technically, the portal should function both ways and that meant that he would be able to use it to get back home…if he found it that is. In this new world…with all these giants that could potentially kill him quite easily.   
He was finished he was ssoooo finished. 

No, no no no no no, come on Branch, what you need now is to be optimistic. Come on, you can do it Branch, think about something positive. He may have been separated from his one true love, he may be lost in some unknown world, he may be surrounded by giant and dangerous pink things and animals, but...but…but…

Yep, he was finished, no positive thought at all. A deep sigh, man, he already missed Poppy and he hadn’t even been gone for one day. Well, maybe Poppy would be able to find a way to him, or better yet, maybe she would find a way for him to get back. Yes, the positive thought of the day. He could do it, YES he could do it. 

A hand grabbed his body and lifted him up. He had seriously forgotten the baby; how could he have forgotten the baby? It held him close to its eyes and inspected him. That’s it. The baby just needed to squeeze him or put him into its mouth and he would be done, finished, dead, gone toward the light, joining the glimmer. 

Alright, let’s do this one step at the time. First, the baby, then a way home. 

“You giant baby thing you, let go of me this instant. Put me down right now, or…or, well I will think of something” Branch told the baby. The baby smiled (all innocent like) before it started to shake him like a rattle. It wasn’t innocent, it was pure evil and he wouldn’t be beaten by it. 

Using his hair, he pried open its pudgy fingers (it had five of those, five‼) and escaped its evil clutch, jumping out of reach. It sniffled, looking at him with watery eyes and a grabbing motion of its fingers. Oh no, he knew that look and he was so not falling for it. The trolls had that look down to an art, and he hadn’t falling for their looks either. And anyway, the baby was so ugly that its look shouldn’t even look cute. He risked a glance over his shoulder. No no no no, it was not cute, he was not falling for it. He turned his gaze away. It made wimpering sounds. Alright, so what if the baby looked cute right now, it was still ugly and he was strong in mind and body. It hiccupped.

“Alright you won, are you happy?! Yes yes, you can grab me again, so please stop crying.” No one was here to tell Branch he was a big softy anyway, so as long as he didn’t tell anytroll what had happened here, notroll would ever find out. 

Maybe he would be able to distract it with a song. It would at least lift his own spirit a little, before he turned all grey.   
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la0-5QFLr14)  
You with the sad eyes  
Don't be discouraged  
Though I realize  
It's hard to take courage

In a world full of people  
You can lose sight of it  
And the darkness inside you  
Makes you feel so small

But I see your true colors  
Shining through  
I see your true colors  
And that's why I love you

So, don't be afraid to let them show  
Just show your true colors  
True colors  
Ooh, are beautiful like a rainbow

Show me a smile  
Don't be unhappy, can't remember  
When I last saw you laughing

If this world makes you crazy  
And you've taken all you can bear  
Just call me up  
'Cause you know I'll be there

And see your true colors  
Shining through  
I see your true colors  
That's why I love you

So, don't be afraid to let them show  
Your true colors  
True colors are beautiful  
Oh, like a rainbow  
…  
(TRUE COLORS - Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick)

Now he missed Poppy again. That was their song, their love created it, well his love and her response to it, but who was he to be nit-picky. A giggle caused him to return to return from his thoughts, followed by clapping. The baby was giggling, it was giggling and smiling and clapping because of his song, their song. Okay, now he felt better. At least he was still able to sing and his singing made someone else happy. Hurray for him, he guessed. 

“Well, still, what am I going to do with you? I mean, I can’t just leave you here all alone. The adults that take care of all the babies seem to ignore you and even starved you. If I leave you here you probably won’t survive a week. But what would I even do with a giant baby? I don’t even have anywhere to live, and even if I did, it probably wouldn’t be big enough for you. And if you are going to grow as big as those giant pink things outside that counts double. I mean it, you are too big. Meaning I can’t take you away from here, but I also can’t leave you here alone.” Branch sighed, thinking logically wasn’t much better “ergo, I need to stay here with you and take care of you because the giants outside don’t seem to think they do.”

Oh troll-tree, was he really doing this? Thinking and even decide to take care of a baby? A huge baby, that would grow into an even bigger adult? Yes, yes he was, gggrreeeaaatttt, just what he needed. But well, he really couldn’t leave it here alone could he? When he thought back about what happened shortly before this he shuddered. 

*FLASHBACK*  
Branch hit the ground, hard. He didn’t know how long he laid there groaning with his vision swimming, but it probably took quite a while for the world to stop spinning and for him to get back to his feet. A look around told him absolutely nothing, expect that he was lost. Nothing looked familiar, or more like, the whole structure around him looked totally unknown. What were all those giant wooden contraptions standing around here. It looked a bit like the inside of the bergens’ homes come to think of it. Well at least what he had been able to glean from the outside. Maybe the portal landed him inside one of their ‘houses’? 

That would be great, or bad come to think of it. There were still some bergens that would like nothing more than to eat one of the trolls. Yes, those existed, they thought that the bergens should go back to their misery selves and continue their old traditions (Yes, they were telling everyone to be unhappy again, those idiots). They were mostly ignored, but all trolls were told to never ever be alone with one of those. Precaution, you must understand. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming toward him. It almost sounded like a stampede. So not only one, but a vast number of bergens and loud ones in fact. 

Better hide and check them out before doing anything dangerous. Better safe than sorry as some (*cough* he himself *cough*) would say. He looked around himself to find a hiding place, but the building was huge. He looked up, there was a chandelier. Using his hair to reach for the table, pulling himself up before and then reaching for the chandelier he was up and hiding in under 5 seconds. Not bad if he said so himself. And not a second to soon because the door (he only managed to see the door now that he was not standing on the floor but looking at everything from high up) was opening and…some things…entered. 

Oh my troll, those things were ugly‼ The had the skin-color of bleached out pink and, man, look at their faces. They were all deformed. Too small nose, too small ears and too big eyes, well at least they didn’t have protruding teeth, but well, they were at least as ugly as the bergens, if not even more so.   
They even came in different sizes, but maybe the smaller ones were just younger.

The smaller ugly things were screaming, crying, laughing and were being loud nuisances. Even the bigger ugly things thought that, as one of the two was sighing constantly while the other was grinding its teeth. Branch watched as they tried, at first unsuccessfully (*cough* they needed almost half an hour *cough*) to bring (or more like force) the children(?) to quiet down. Than they started to bring in huge pots, with steam rising from the inside. The children had all sat down and were now hungrily staring at the food. 

Branch, sitting right above the dinner table, smelled to odour coming from the pots. The stench almost forced him to vomit. They were eating something like that? No wonder the children had made such a scene. If they tried to force him to eat that, he would have probably already run off screaming bloody murder, or at least screamed the watered down troll-version. Or he may also be wrong. The children seem to devour the food that was put in front of them. Maybe they were just that hungry?

Oh look at that, there was an even smaller one in the arms of one of bigger ones. It looked even worse than the others, he hadn’t thought that possible. It looked like an over ripe fruit, a very over ripe red fruit. Was that colour healthy? Big number two, the one that wasn’t holding the baby, took a bottle from the counter and filled it with a white fluid. Than he put it into a contraption that made a lot of noise. It looked like a silver box and started to glow as soon as Big turned one of its buttons. A minute later it turned dark again, after it gave a short loud noise. Big opened the door and took the bottle out, before holding it to his cheek. He nodded, looking satisfied, as it held the bottle to the kids/babies (?) mouth. The baby (it was probably a baby) started to suckle and soon none of the white substance was left.

A cry from the left alarmed him that there existed at least one more of these things here. There was another door there, which meant that there probably was a room right behind it with one of those things in it, crying. A look back to the big ones showed them to be scowling at each other. 

“I am not feeding the demon spawn today, I did it yesterday. Today is your turn!” Big number one sounded agitated and angry. If only he could understand what they were saying, it was all gibberish to him. 

“No way, I did it the whole last week. This week is your turn. Don’t try to push the demon to me.” The other sounded just as angry, if not angrier. Maybe they were quarrelling, but why? And why weren’t they doing anything about the crying. 

“I don’t want to see him today! You know what day today is and you still want me to feed him, when my only wish is that he was dead?”

“Then let him starve! As if I care, but if he does die you will be the one to explain to the hokage why the demon died, even thought he was entrusted to our care!”

“Well fine.” Number one screamed before proceeding in a quieter voice, “it’s not like it would starve just because it didn’t get food for one day.” With that the it turned and marched out of the room. Number two looked after him, before turning toward the door where the crying came from. 

“Well it would probably be better if it does starve. Then we would be rid of it” Number two also turned and left the room. The children that had just finished their dinner and had listened in looked at each other before they shrugged their shoulders and left the room as well, leaving Branch all alone. Well expect for whatever was crying in the backroom.

“They just left?? What about the crying?” Branch couldn’t understand what had happened. Had they just ignored the crying? But, but you don’t just ignore crying. If this had been the troll-tree, the trolls would have already hugged the living daylight out of the one crying. And then they would have done everything in their power to cheer the troll, or even Bergen, up again. Maybe the ugly ones were like the bergens before their friendship with the trolls, but even back than the bergens still took care of their children.

Turning back and forth, looking at the door everyone left through as well as the door the crying came from, Branch made up his mind. If they didn’t check why it was crying, then he would do it. No one should be left crying all by himself. 

Swinging himself down from the chandelier, Branch managed to land right in front of the door. It wasn’t fully closed, a small gap having been left open, a small gap was all he needed. Entering the room left him covered in dust. The whole room was covered in dust and dirt. Unforgivable, that was totally unhygienic. A few steps in soon revealed were the crying came from. It was a small crib in one of the corners of the room. Using his hair to grab the crib and fling himself toward it, he soon came face to face with one ugly baby. It was crying big, fat tears, hiccupping and sniffling for all it was worth. Making wild swings with its small hands and kicking its legs.   
Alright so now he stood here, looking at the crying baby. What was he going to do now? Why exactly was it even crying? Maybe it wanted to play? Wanted a bit attention (he wouldn’t blame it if it did want attention). Or maybe….

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud growl. At first, he thought it was a wild animal but a quick look around the room soon showed no such animal near him. A second growl was heard. A it was the baby that growled, or more specific its stomach. The baby was hungry. But why did the big ones leave then? Why did they not feed it? Maybe they didn’t have enough of the white substance and where gone to get more? No, the scene he had watched earlier didn’t look like they intent to come back anytime soon. 

They didn’t want to starve the baby, did they? No, that couldn’t possibly be. Come on, no one would be so cruel as to starve a baby. No one, right? The baby in front of him and the scene before started to paint a picture he didn’t like, didn't want to believe, didn’t want to even think about. He stared at the baby horrified. Please let that be a misunderstanding. 

A third growl resounded through the room. Branch needed to centre himself. He shouldn’t think about it, at least not now. Maybe it truly was a misunderstand, but misunderstanding or not, he needed to do something about the hungry baby first and think about all that the hungry baby implied after. 

So, what should he do. He needed to bring the white substance to the baby, that meant he needed to go back to the other room and get one of those bottles first. 

Leaving the baby for now, Branch used his hair to swing himself to the other side of the room and walk through the gap. Turning toward the left, he saw that on the counter stood a second bottle still. Climbing to the top of the Counter, he managed to secure the bottle. Now he needed the white fluid. If he remembered this correctly, it came out of the carton to his right, which was twice as big as him. So, using his hair he first removed both the lids from the bottle as well as the carton and then carefully started to pour it into the bottle. Screwing both shut again meant that he had at least finished the first hurdle. So, now he only needed to bring the bottle to the baby, right? No, wait, they still did something else?! 

A, yes, the contraption. First pushing one of the buttons to open the door, then putting the bottle inside, closing the door and finally turning another button so that it glowed. One minute later the contraption stopped glowing and he opened the door again to get the bottle out. Putting his cheek on it like the big one had done preciously resulted in him having a warm cheek (so that contraption was used to heat things up, good to know).

Thinking back, the only thing he needed to do now was give the baby the bottle. Looking toward the door told Branch one thing, it would be a long foot march, riddled with hurdles. The huge hairy beast that had been as big, and trice as long, as him, not to mention its sharp teeth and claws had taken a bit of time. Using his hair as a Whip he had managed to drive it away.

At the end it took him 5 to 10 minutes to get the bottle to the crib. No negative comments, he had to fight a beast and carry the bottle all the way. The bottle weighted tones. 

Heaving it up using his hair he soon looked at the red and dirty face of the baby. Its cries had quiet down some, but if it was because it realised the hopelessness of the action or because it just got to weak to continue, he really didn’t know (or want to know really. Both options were heart breaking in their own rights, HOW could these adults be so cruel???). 

“Here, take this and calm down? You are still hungry, right? Not that you suddenly decide that you didn’t want to eat after all the troubles I went through to get this to you?”

The baby having noticed that Branch was waving the bottle right in front of its face suddenly became hyperactive. It gripped the bottle with surprising strength and speed and was soon guzzling the liquid down for all it was worth. The bottle was empty in the matter of seconds. The baby gave a disgruntled look toward the now empty bottle before focusing on Branch for the first time.   
“Hey little guy, my name is Branch” Branch couldn’t stop from introducing himself. 

*FLASHBACK END*  
And that was pretty much what happened. He had stayed with the little guy till night and the big ones had still not come back since to feed or even look for the baby. Everything pointed toward them being neglectful. Had he not been here, the baby would have probably continued to cry till the next day. He couldn’t in good conscience leave it here all alone. And it was alone since no one had even looked for the baby once, even thought there had been adults present. 

Meaning that him searching for the portal would have to be put on the backburner for a bit. At least until he found a responsible adult that would take care of the little one. 

“Poppy will understand. Or more like, she would probably be very cross with me if I did nothing.” Branch chuckled, using one of his hands to caress the baby’s temple. 

“Well, you are stuck, or more like I am stuck with you for now, aren’t I? Well then, I better think of a name for you. I can’t just continue to call you baby.” 

“Mmmmm,” he gave the baby a long and considering look “You probably already have a name, but since you can’t tell me and I wouldn’t understand you anyway even if you could suddenly magically talk: What about I just call you ‘Sun’ for now, because you are a little smiling sunshine.” Branch gave Sun a small and satisfied smile which it returned with shining eyes and its own happy giggle. 

“Alright, you already proved that you are cute. The only cute one amount all the Ugly ones, that is you. Happy?!”

The baby gave another happy bell-like giggle. Branch could live with that. 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1moWxHdTkT0) 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,   
you make me happy when skies are grey  
You'll never know dear, how much I love you,   
please don't take my sunshine away

The other night dear as I laid sleeping   
I dreamed I held you by my side  
When I awoke dear I was mistaken   
and I hung my head and cry

You are my sunshine  
You told me once dear you really loved me   
and no one else could come between  
But now you've left me and you love another   
and you have shattered all my dreams

You are my sunshine  
I'll always love you and make you happy   
if you will only say the same  
But if you leave me to love another   
you'll regret it all some day  
You are my sunshine  
Please don't take my sunshine away  
…  
(Elizabeth Mitchell - You Are My Sunshine)


	2. Useless adults

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone comes to visit and Branch is only reinforced in his believe that all adults of this species are useless

Chapter 2: Useless adults

‘Taking care of a baby shouldn’t be this hard’ Branch thought despairingly. He had fallen into a routine with Sunshine, taking care of all his necessaries (he learned what those were from watching the caretakers caring for other babies) playing with him when he was bored and needed distraction or singing to him when he needed a bit of love and attention. 

‘He is a happy and excitable baby’ Branch reflected and was disappointed that he was already exhausted after a few weeks. ‘It really shouldn’t be this hard, what am I doing wrong?’  
The first trouble started when Sunshine wanted to be held, wanted body contact and loving touches. 

Using his *ahem*small*ahem* hands to make grapping motions toward him. Branch looked at the size of his body and compared it to Sunshine and knew ‘nope, not doing it, the only outcome of this will be me getting squished.’ 

What he needed was a bigger body. What he had was his pint-sized body and his hair. There was nothing he had that would help him in holding Sunshine in any way or form, or was there? The thought of ‘How could I forget, I could use my hair?!’ came regretfully only at the beginning of the second week.

Using his hair to hold up Sunshine soon became a challenge. Not only did he need to stretch it long enough so that Sunshine didn’t touch the ground, he also needed it long enough to give Sunshine the equivalent of a hug. Branch compared it with muscles that he needed to train. He hadn’t even known that he could get the equivalent of a muscle ache that he had only ever heard from the Bergens before. 

Sunshine was at first delighted with this new entertainment, clapping his hands, making cute baby noises and blowing bubbles and whopping when he was almost dropped (‘Oh god, I almost dropped a baby’ Branch despaired). Still Sunshine soon became dissatisfied with the hair and continued to make grapping motions toward Branch. 

‘What Sunshine needs is an adult of his species.’ Branch thought to himself. He was too small, too different to hold Sunshine like he wanted him to. 

He looked out of the window toward the busy street. A lot of people were walking to and fro, going about their own business, sometimes stopping and talking to one another or sometimes even trading shiny stones or green papers for food or clothes. 

It was disconcerting. The whole species reminded Branch very much of the Bergens before they had befriended them. Well the mood was a bit better, but overall the whole species was to quiet, seldom laughing, always walking, rarely running (except the children, but even those were oftentimes restrained by holding hands) and most of all, he had not heard even one song since he had arrived here. 

Back home, there was rarely a time when the trolls didn’t suddenly burst into songs and started dancing or just run around. The children were also taken care of by the whole troll community. Here the children seem to belong to only two or even only one of their species. Sometimes one or two would come into this building, look at all the children that lived here (expect Sunshine, the door of his room was seldom opened) and then seemingly pick one or two of them. They would then be given a stack of paper, write something on the last and then give the papers back, taking the child/ren with them. 

Branch hadn't wanted to accept it. They just took the children with them and the caretakers didn’t seem to care. Were children treated as objects? Could someone someday just come into Sunshines room and take him without anyone caring were he would end or what would happen to him. 

Sunshine started to whine, continued making grapping motions toward Branch, looking completely miserable. 

‘He needs an adult’ Branch couldn’t help but think a second time. The question was would Branch be able to find an adult that would be willing to care for Sunshine, and before that could he even trust the adults of this species. ‘They seemed to be very callous with their young’.

“I wish I was bigger” It wasn’t the first time that Branch had wished such an absurd thing. He wasn’t small, for a troll he was even downright tall (that wasn’t a lie, damn it), but compared to the absurd size of Sunshine’s species (they were even bigger than the Bergens and the Bergens were already big enough to eat trolls with one bit) he was tiny. 

Sunshine’s whimpering had turned into soft crying and then bawling. It was heart wrenching to listen to his cries and soft pleas for attention and not for the first time Branch wished that the caretakers weren’t such complete and utterly miscreants.  
He was about to jump of the window sill when he noticed the creaking of the door. He instinctively camouflaged himself with the help of his hair. 

An older man came into the room, holding a wooden cane in his left hand while his right hand and arm was hidden behind his clothes. The X-shaped scar on the chin was prominent as half of his face including his right eye was covered by bandages. 

The man slowly let his gaze wander around the room, seemingly noting everything, uncaring about Sunshine crying in the corner. Finally, his gaze landed on Sunshine and stilled. He seemed to study him from head to toe and back and then started to talk. 

Branch didn’t understand a whole lot about what he was talking about as learning the language had proven to be difficult the last few weeks. He had learned a word here and there as he had listened to the caregivers and children, but overall, he still didn’t know much of the language since his contact with it had been sparse at best. 

“You…child…learn…great…shinobi…for good…village” The few words that he did understand wouldn’t really help him understand what the man wanted, maybe he wanted Sunshine to be a shinobi? In the few weeks that he had lived here he had learned that the shinobi were like guardians for their village. They all seemed to wear similar jackets and seemed to possess abilities that the rest of the species didn’t have. He had learned about them when one shinobi came to visit and tested the older children (for their potential maybe – maybe the older children had reached an age where they were expected to help out in the village).

Still, Branch didn’t like the man. Naruto was still crying, and the man seemed to just stand in front of him and ramble on as if it was more important that he heard himself talking instead of giving Sunshine a hug or at least taking him into his arms. 

Finally, the man seemed to get it and bend down…only too once more let his gaze drift over Sunshine, not touching him in the slightest. Then he stood up and looking like his duty was done, left, just like that?!

Sunshine who had quieted down when the man had bend down started to cry again. Big fat tears rolled down his chubby cheeks while snot dropped down from his nose. 

Branch swore, it really seemed like all the grown up of this species were unfit to care for children (‘or at least his Sunshine’ Branch thought bitterly to himself as he had noticed how the caregivers seemed to be able to take care of all the other children expect him).

“No” he decided at last “you know what Sunshine” he jumped down from the window sill and used his hair like a parachute to land right in front of his baby “as the adults of your species are completely unable and even unsuited to take care of you I will somehow, or another just have to do it”. 

“If I am to tiny in this form to comfort you then I will just have to find a way to make myself bigger, won’t I?

___________  
Hope you enjoyed reading it :)


End file.
